


Sordid Details

by FugitiveArchivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, M/M, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 09:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5923273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FugitiveArchivist/pseuds/FugitiveArchivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James has been gone all night and Lily fears the worst</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sordid Details

**Author's Note:**

> Great thanks to Lassenia, the archivist over at [Wolf and Hound](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Wolf_and_Hound), for saving this one and many others by importing the works there to AO3. I had lost many of these files and was very happy when they popped up on my AO3 account.

James smiles tiredly at Lily as he enters the common room, "Hullo Lils. "

"Are you going to tell me where you’ve been all night James Irving Potter or do I have to go beat it out of Peter?" Lily asks in a low hurt tone.

James gulps nervously, "Calm down Lils."

"Jamie whatever you’ve been off doing with Remus and Sirius just tell me," Lily says with a tremor in her voice.

"I’m sorry Lils it’s not my place-"

She interrupts him, "Damnit James I have a /right/ to know all the sordid details if this ring ever meant anything to you."

"Sordid details?" James asks dumbfounded.

"Don’t play stupid James. You’ve been out all night with the two randiest creatures in the castle," Lily says near tears.

"Lils if you trust me at all listen to me: Nothing ‘sordid' has or ever will happen between me and the lover boys," James tells her calmly. When Lily doesn't respond he goes on, "As I was saying it’s not my place to tell you why we were gone all night but I will ask Remus to tell you when Poppy lets them come up."

"Poppy knows about this?" Lily asks a slight bit calmer.

"Poppy knew before Sirius did, much to his displeasure," James tells her with a nod. "Come on, if we’re going to talk about this we should do it in the dorm."

Even after following him upstairs and sitting beside him on his bed Lily seems suspicious of James. "Lils even if you refuse to believe that I would never touch a boy with any such intention you know how jealous they both are, do you honestly think they’d share each other?"

Lily turns to him, angry now, "Even if I’m wrong about what you’ve been doing James you snuck off and were out all night for something you’ve been lying to me about."

Just then Remus and Sirius enter the room. Remus is leaning on Sirius who is watching him intently as he keeps a tight arm around him. He pushes Remus into his bed, "No complaints, I don’t care what Poppy says you're staying in bed until you’ve finished breakfast."

"Not unless breakfast includes chocolate and you Siri," Remus shoots back tiredly.

"Doesn’t it always?" Sirius asks slipping into bed with him. He listens for a second and smiles, "And here comes Jolli now."

Only then do Remus and Sirius notice James and Lily. "Lils, what are you doing in our little corner of the world?" Remus asks casting a furious glance at James.

"I’m waiting for James to explain to me where you three were all night," Lily tells them bluntly.

"And I told her it’s not mine to tell. She however seems to convince we’ve been fooling around," James explains annoyed.

"‘Heterosexual' with a capital H Jamie fooling around with us Red? I think not. He can’t decide if it’s sweet or sickening when we kiss," Sirius assures her as the house elf puts a tray on the bedside table.

"All right I jumped to conclusions, shoot me. Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Lily says irritably.

"Give us a minute Red," Sirius says shutting the curtains.

They whisper for a minute, and then Remus gives a frustrated sigh, "That’s not what I'm saying Siri, you know I trust Lils."

"You keep saying we’ll have to tell her eventually..."

More whispering and then Sirius opens the curtains. Sirius casts a silencing charm and Remus gives James another dangerous glance but takes a deep breath, "Lils you have to promise what I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room."

Lily hesitates for half a minute, "I promise you whatever you tell me I won’t tell anyone else."

Remus remains silent and Lily opens her mouth to prompt him to go on.

Sirius sits forward a bit, "This is a hard thing to do Red, give him a little time." He slips an arm around Remus reassuringly.

Remus shakes his head, kisses Sirius' neck and sits forward, "Lils... When I was very young I was out at night with my mum chasing lightening bugs..." His voice catches but he goes on, "It was a full moon and we lived on the edge of a forest... Mum never knew there was anything dangerous about it. One minute we were laughing and the next a wolf had me pinned to the ground. It bit me... My dad arrived in time to kill it before it had done more than bite me. But it was already too late. It wasn’t a normal wolf." He buries his face in Sirius' neck.

"Oh, Remus I’m so, so sorry. Is there anything I can do?" Lily asks mortified.

Sirius smiles at her, though with little humor, "No need. Anymore."

Remus lifts his head smiling first at Sirius and then at James, "Sirius, James and Peter have done more than I ever thought possible."

Lily looks bewildered again, "How?"

"Well as Jamie has put it that is not mine to tell," Remus says smiling lightly.

"And some how I think it being my idea leaves it to me to tell it," Sirius says beaming with pride now that they'd gotten passed the more painful bits of this conversation. "I figured out Remus’ secret just before the end of first year and Jamie figured it out in second. That’s when we told Remus we knew and immediately I started looking for something to help him. And some other research that I don’t talk about because Remus turns scarlet and James shouts about too much information. But getting back to the point. In the middle of second year I decided that I’d found the solution. A transformed werewolf only attacks humans so the rest of us would become Animagi and we could spend the moons with Remus. "

"W-What?" Lily asks uncomprehendingly.

"I think that one is a show and tell kind of thing Siri," Remus comments picking up some of the bacon from his plate and starting

breakfast.

Sirius disentangles himself from Remus and shifts sideways on the bed. He transforms and lays his head on Remus' lap. Remus chuckles as he scratches behind Padfoot's ears and feeds him some of the bacon. "Boyfriend and puppy dog all in one loveable package," Remus comments as Padfoot rolls over to get his belly scratched. "Care to show Lils her live in wildlife Jamie?"

Padfoot whines happily, back foot thumping the bed vigorously before Sirius turned back suddenly, Remus' hand slows from a vigorous scratching to a languid stroking.

As if to break up their little private party James stands up and transforms, standing stock still for Lily to pet him.

Lily reaches out petting him softly, absently. "When?... How?..." He transforms back and she regains a little of her ability to speak, "Do you know what will happen to you if they find out James?"

"Yes, Lils if they find out we have a trial. We argue our case. We lose because they’ll never see the value of what we’ve done for Remus. We spend a year in Azkaban. You know what happens to Remus every month if we’re not there to make it just a little bit easier?" James shoots back a little angrily.

Sirius who has been otherwise distracted sets Remus' plate in his lap with a command of "Eat," and pulls Lily over to his bed. "Be right back Jamie, I promise."

Lily follows, a little confused to see anything pull Sirius out of a bed with Remus in it.

He sits down and she follows. He pulls the curtains shut and mutters a silencing charm. "Look Red I know you’re a little upset with Jamie right now."

"I just want to know why he didn’t tell me something this big," Lily protests.

"Bullshit Red. You're a smart girl, you know why he couldn't tell you. I brought you over here so I can tell you the why of it without Remus claiming I'm exaggerating or pretending I'm fussing over him," Sirius tells her softly, as if he's worried the silencing charm isn't strong enough.

Lily takes a deep breath, "You’re right Sirius. I’m sorry please go on."

"How much do you know about werewolves?" Sirius asks her after a moment's silence.

"A little. Mostly what we learned in class. That the curse is passed by a bite during a full moon and that if you’re bit there’s no cure. You will become a werewolf and once a month your body will contort and reshape into that of a wolf," Her recitation is cold, analytical.

"That’s the bare bones of transmission. For Remus ever moon rise is a living hell. He looses control of his mind to a blood thirsty beast as his body tears itself apart. For his safety and everyone else's they have to lock him up in the shrieking shack so he can’t hurt anyone. Denied the hunt, unable to even run off the tension of the craving for prey the wolf turns on Remus, biting and scratching itself mercilessly."

He's near tears. Lily takes his hand, "I-I never knew."

"And if were up to him you’d never know. None of you would. He can’t hide it from me. It hurts too much for him to concentrate on blocking me out. When we're there the transformation itself is still horrible and as much as I love Remus and the wolf, and as much as I know neither of them would ever mean to hurt me I have to stand by and watch what the moon does to him. Because not even the wolf can think straight through all the pain I can't sooth him. But when it's over and the wolf is in control having us to run and scuffle and play with makes things easier. Remus and the wolf are almost at peace with each other and rather than being alone and in pain he has us with him, he enjoys the moons. As much as he can anyway."

"What do you mean he can’t hide it from you?" Lily asks curiously.

"One of the few perks of the whole damn thing. And part of that other research that makes Remus blush. Werewolf mating habits. Werewolves mate for life, one of those things that seem as if the cliche just fermented into fact. And when they choose a mate the bonding process links everything, body, soul and mind. Unless we concentrate we can’t keep each other out of our heads, in fact he’s fighting like hell to know what I’m saying to you right now. There probably hasn't been a single time in the past three years that you actually spoke to just one of us, which is why James makes all those god awful jokes about us being bad influences on each other. I understand that most people have no idea what it's like to love someone so much you give up all distance but I'm glad that I always have at least his voice and his thoughts to keep me company."

Lily looks at him almost in awe, "that’s so sweet."

"Anyway the point is that we did this because Remus was suffering and there was something we could do about it. As his friends. Mostly..."

He adds reluctantly.

"Mostly?" Lily questions.

"I was going to do it alone at first. As a way to be with him more than in heart and mind and spirit during the moons. Jamie said he’d be damned if he'd let me do anything so dangerous alone. And he pointed out that we often get detentions, what if I couldn’t be there? Like tonight Pete had to go pay for a little prank on Flich and couldn't come out with us." He looks her over appraisingly, "Can I ask you something Red?"

She nods, "Sure Siri, what is it?"

"Did you honestly think Jamie was fooling around with us, or anybody for that matter?" The question is followed by a long exhalation as if he's been forcibly holding it back up to now.

"I don’t know what I thought Siri. I came up looking for James at nine and none of you were here. I figured you were all off pulling a prank or a kitchen raid. I went down to the common room to wait for you. Peter came back alone at ten-thirty, said he’d been in detention and didn’t know where the rest of you were. I started imaging the worst." She sighs deeply, "Around eleven Marion came to see if I was coming up to bed at all. I told her why I was sitting there and she told me if her boyfriend was off with Sirius ‘God's gift to trousers' Black in the middle of the night she’d be worried to."

Sirius chuckles appreciatively, "God’s gift to trousers?"

"Hadn’t heard that one yet?" Lily asks with a smile, "Started in third year when you began strutting around in those tight leather trousers. A muggle born Ravenclaw girl proclaimed that you ‘might not be god's gift to women but you're definitely his gift to trousers' and it stuck."

"So did those trousers. Shows you how blind I can be I guess," Sirius comments with a shrug. "Well I’ve earned myself a good long dry spell of about ten minutes with this stunt. We should rejoin them."

"You’re not off the hook with explanations yet," Lily warns him.

"Ask Jamie, I'm sure he’ll be happy to fill you in. Unlike some of you I have things to take care of before class," Sirius tells her slipping quickly from the bed.

Sirius nods to James, "She’ll be out in a minute and I think I got you off the hook."

James looks at him as if he's never heard such a blatant lie, "What lies did you have to tell her?"

"None Jamie. Paranoid much?" Sirius says shaking his head a bit, "If I’m late to Transfiguration don’t worry." He pulls the curtains around Remus' bed shut again. "Save me any breakfast?"

"I don’t know that I should give it to you. After all you’ve been off whispering secrets to Lils," Remus says softly.

"All I told her was why James and I did what we did. I shut you out because you get frustrated when I think about making things easier on you and showing you how much I love you. Always want to tell me I don’t need to do all that," Sirius murmurs crawling up the bed slowly, predatorily.

Just as Sirius claims Remus' lips his stomach growls loudly. Remus laughs, "Oh alright eat breakfast, but then you owe me some skin and chocolate Siri."

"Always more than happy to deliver on a debt like that Love," Sirius tells him with a broad grin before making quick work of the remaining scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Are you going to class?" Remus asks smiling widely.

"Never again," Sirius assures him.

Lily slips out to find James waiting, staring intently as if he thinks she'll hit him. Without a word she takes his hand and leads him out of the room. When they reach the common room she breaks the silence, "When?"

"November 8, 1976, for me anyway," James tells her sounding relieved.

"And the others?" Lily questions still leading him to the great hall.

"Sirius was October 28. Peter was December 14," James looks thoughtful for a moment, "Sirius wanted to do it desperately and pushed things and Peter need a bit of a hand."

"This is recent then," This is said not to James but to herself. Then she turns back to him, "How?"

"It’s complicated, three separate potions, four complex charms and a complete self transfiguration," James recites softly.

"One last question Jamie: What made you think I didn’t care enough about Remus to at least help you finish?" Lily asks piercing him with the gaze that makes her such an effective prefect.

"The same reason Sirius was so bloody fired up to finish. I didn’t want to see the person I love the most hurt. We knowingly risked prison I couldn’t ask you to help with that."

She sighs and her gaze softens, "I’m a big girl Jamie, I can choose for myself if I should take risks or not."

"Lils, the very idea of you spending six seconds in that place turns my stomach. If we’d needed your expertise we would have turned to you but I was going to let you risk yourself when we already all had our heads on the chopping block. Siri claims we mere mortals can’t know what it’s like to need someone with every fiber of your being but he’s either stupid or a lair. I need you like I need the air Lils I always will. Now care to answer a question for me?"

Her breath catches at his fervent confession but she manages to ask, "Yes Jamie?"

"What precisely made you think I was even the tiniest bit susceptible to Siri’s charms?" James asks defensively.

"Who wouldn’t be?" Lily replies without thinking.

"We’ll deal with that later," James almost growls. "Seriously-"

"Look Jamie, I wasn’t thinking straight. You were out all night with two hot gay boys and someone planted the doubt in my mind. Everyone knows you’re not gay, but the fact that you reacted so well when Remus and Sirius came out makes it clear you don't have a problem with it either."

"Lovely! ‘Two hot gay boys' I should have seen it before... What am I chopped liver?" James pouts. "I'll bet that’s why you're always dropping into the dorm room unexpected, hoping to catch a show." 

"Jamie you’re being childish. Yes I happen to think a couple of your friends are hot, that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. And the reason I stop by your room unexpected is hoping to catch you and a bed alone. Now I won't deny that I enjoy the occasional glimpse of them attacking each other in the common room the private bits of their relationship are between them and no one else. So just shut up and follow me, I was looking for you for a reason last night you know..."

Only then does he notice she's not leading him toward the great hall at all.

~FIN~


End file.
